Are we just about guaranteed a top 10 pick?

[AB_Celtic]

... and why?

[Monkhouse]

With the additions added, I don't even know if we seriously are tanking. We don't have a great roster, but if we can somehow pull some amazing trades to move up in the draft, then I can see us possibly going 5-10.

Our team is strong enough to at least 25-30 games. With most of the East becoming good enough to win more games, if we can somehow win 25-30 games, and still be out of the playoffs, then I don't know. 

I would want us to tank solely, because this move if we get a top 5 talent could really propel us.

[dreamgreen]

The team we have now will not be the team we have at the end of the season IMO.

But right now if Rondo is healthy and what we do have I'd say we are a 30-35 win team.

[kozlodoev]

I'm not even sure we'll be in the lottery.

[BudweiserCeltic]

This team, as currently constructed, is still seemingly too good to be a "tanking" team. It's a playoff team lathered with young talent, and plenty of players who know how to play.

[slamtheking]

I figure us probably at 9-12 for a few reasons:
1) while I only see the Bobcats and Phx as definitely worse than us, there are probably about 6-8 other teams that could finish worse than us and probably will.  Figure about the 9th or 10th worst record.
2) The C's do not have good luck in the lottery.  I suspect a team with a better record will leapfrog us to a top 3 spot, if not 2 teams leapfrogging us.  Puts us about 10th to 12th in the draft.

-->no matter how this season and the draft play out, I have a horrid feeling that no matter how many franchise-type studs are in the lottery, the C's will end up the the pick AFTER they are all selected

[manl_lui]

The team we have now will not be the team we have at the end of the season IMO.

But right now if Rondo is healthy and what we do have I'd say we are a 30-35 win team.

I think this is key...Rondo and Green are two talents that are too good for tanking, we should be at least a 30-35 win team, probably even in the 40s squeezing into the playoffs. If we really want to tank we need to sit Rondo and/or Green.

In my opinion I want Green to keep developing, but our team be bad enough to get a top 5 pick...so many gems in the lottery.

[merkins]

I find myself optimistic most offseasons, but not this year.  With a new coach and system to learn, a lot of new players and uncertainty of Rondos health, I doubt we will win much.

For as long as I can remember, PP got the ball in his hands late in close games.  Who is the C's closer now?  Unless Green or someone else becomes at least half the clutch player Pierce was (KG closed strong also) we drop more of those close ones. 

This is one reason we cant deal Rondo.  We need leadership to will us through the droughts and tight games.  I know interior defense has been talked as a concern but I also think we will not be terribly efficient on offense at times this year either.  Those Nets we added are not efficient scorers.

[Who]

I have Boston in the 8-12 range at the moment. Fair chance of a top ten pick.

[PhoSita]

I think it's possible that Danny could clean up the roster a bit, Rondo comes back sooner and better than expected, and everybody plays together really well and we end up in that 10-15 range.

Still, I'd say the odds of us being in the Top 10 are much greater.

[Boris Badenov]

I can't even form an opinion. Nothing would surprise me. We could end up contending for a playoff spot, or winning 15 games.

A lot might depend on when Rondo returns and how he plays. I know that sounds obvious but he's clearly the best player on the team, and we could either get a full season of 90-100% Rondo, or part of a season with 50% Rondo.

[fantankerous]

I think we're a bottom five team, even if we're fully healthy for the whole season.  We have a serious lack of shooting and iso scoring.  Our interior defense and pick-and-roll defense will be bad.  We have key players (KO, Sully, Bradley) and a head coach in their "development" phase.  I think this will be a very difficult, but necessary, transition year.

[Fafnir]

I'm not even sure we'll be in the lottery.

Yeah it all comes down to our big men rotation.

If they perform well we're in the mix for the last two playoff spots in the east. If they perform poorly then we're a mid-lottery team.

Edit: (assuming Rondo is back and at full strength relatively quickly)

[Moranis]

The team we have now will not be the team we have at the end of the season IMO.

But right now if Rondo is healthy and what we do have I'd say we are a 30-35 win team.

I think this is key...Rondo and Green are two talents that are too good for tanking, we should be at least a 30-35 win team, probably even in the 40s squeezing into the playoffs. If we really want to tank we need to sit Rondo and/or Green.

In my opinion I want Green to keep developing, but our team be bad enough to get a top 5 pick...so many gems in the lottery.

I don't get the love affair with Green on this board.  He is a mid-level starter at best and has been his entire career.  He isn't going to lead the team to all these victories, even with Rondo.  And Rondo, while a good player, isn't a franchise player.  Boston will be in the 25-30 win range and that assumes Rondo plays the whole year (now granted I don't think he returns to form till mid-season, but he needs to be out there all year or the team will be awful).

[action781]

I think a 35-47 record sounds about right for the celtics.  Last season that would have been the 13th worst record in the NBA.

You've gotta remember that this team cannot rebound. We just traded away KG and pierce who combined for 14 of our team's 39 rpg.  We will be replacing KG's minutes with some combination of Olynyk, Sullinger, and Bass and Pierce's minutes with Jeff Green and Gerald Wallace.  We were a bad rebounding team last year and theoretically we should get worse.